When I read novels, very rarely is the genre strictly Romance. I tend to go for the fair mixture of urban-fantasy, sci-fi, or adventure mixed in with it. Romance is an after-thought, not the focus of the story. More recently, however, I have been checking out some more novels within this genre. Because the books are, quite honestly, humourous. They're short and quick reads and I am often laughing at the descriptions and characters... even though that's not the intent at all. Some Romance is done well, or is incorporated well enough into a story that it seems normal - natural, even. And that's fine. I have no problems with it.

And then we get stories like The Tide of the Mermaid Tears.

I know that Ember Taffee wanders -sorry, meanders- the seashore twice daily. She also likes mermaids, mermen, the sea, and trinkets. Lily Taffee, her sister, likes to paint and.. uh.. umn.. tease Ember, I guess? Ridge West appears ashore and we know he's handsome and Ember is desperately in love with him for some reason. Desperately. And sometime near the center of the book we have Tempest Taffee, their mother, telling Ridge West of her tragic, sad, desperate past that is very sad and troubling, and stuff.

I got a bit tired of the story by this point because nothing interesting had happened yet. It can be all summed up with the previous paragraph. Aside from that, the way the characters think and speak... it doesn't seem natural to me. I couldn't get into the flow of the story. Even when Ember and Ridge are together, there is only so much I can take with this talk of "mouth-watering" as reaction to their own thoughts of kissing each other. To the point where I can only picture are two people gazing dreamily at each other with saliva running down their faces in a torrent.

Seriousness is Ruined Forever.I had to start skimming the book by this point.

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